{"id":42255,"date":"2018-10-08T12:32:55","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T12:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/08\/the-army-missed-its-end-strength-goal-this-year-can-it-make-up-the-setback\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:30:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:30:02","slug":"the-army-missed-its-end-strength-goal-this-year-can-it-make-up-the-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/10\/08\/the-army-missed-its-end-strength-goal-this-year-can-it-make-up-the-setback\/","title":{"rendered":"The Army missed its end strength goal this year. Can it make up the setback?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A year ago, the Army set an ambitious benchmark of recruiting 80,000 new soldiers<\/a> in fiscal year 2018. The number dropped to 76,500 in April<\/a>, but it was the highest goal in a decade, at a time when combat operations in the Middle East have ramped down, along with the eligibility and interest from young people to serve in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service announced on Sept. 21 that it would not be making its end strength goal<\/a>, despite a historic uptick in retention, after falling short 6,500 new soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Army continues rolling along, so what does that end strength hit mean for the next several years? End strength is set to grow to 487,500 in the coming year, and because of last year\u2019s zero-growth numbers, that means adding 11,500 to the force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be an easy mission,\u201d Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands, the Army\u2019s deputy chief of staff for personnel, told Army Times in a Sept. 26 interview. \u201cWe\u2019ve got recruiters all across the country and overseas who we\u2019re asking to do some really heavy lifting. We think we\u2019ve given them the right tools to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service is going into the new fiscal year with boundless optimism, based on a handful of factors. To start, there are simply fewer people scheduled to get out of the Army this year, based on known numbers of ending contracts and pending medical separations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe number of soldiers who are scheduled ETS is about 10,000 fewer,\u201d Seamands said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with last year\u2019s 86 percent retention rate, there\u2019s a chance that a good chunk of them will stay on. In the meantime, that gap in planned end strength continues to show itself in holes throughout the Army\u2019s formations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting to 105 percent <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way or another, the Army is growing. For now, those extra soldiers will go to rounding out existing, undermanned units, rather than building any new brigades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no plan that the secretary of the Army or I have approved [that has] to do with major force structure additions to the Army,\u201d Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Army Times in a Sept. 24 interview. \u201cNor do we necessarily think that\u2019s necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more coverage from the AUSA annual meeting, click here.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the boost is meant to augment the readiness of current units, many of which are allowed to fall behind if they do not have immediate plans to deploy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want all of the units to be manned at 90 percent, for example. That\u2019s near-term. That\u2019s what we want to get to,\u201d Milley said. \u201cOnce we get to that, we want to raise the flag, or raise the bar. Then we want to get them to 100 percent. Then once we get to that, we want to get them over 100 percent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that on any one day, a unit will have several members who are in school or injured, seeking behavioral health treatment or on leave tending to family issues, the perfect scenario would be 105 percent manning in every unit, to allow a cushion for extenuating circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat means then, optimally, that they will be going to major collective training events at 100 percent strength,\u201d Milley said. \u201cThat would be ideal. You will never reach the ideal. It\u2019s not really in the realm of the possible, so to speak. But we want to keep trying to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Army trainees run to the company area on the first day of Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, SC., in June 2017. (Sgt. Philip McTaggart\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are also spots to fill in the institutional base, Seamands said, and a larger Army will turn that around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo the operational units are the bread and butter, but you\u2019ve also got holes in [Training and Doctrine Command], in drill sergeants, recruiters,\u201d Seamands said. \u201cEach of the strengths of the [opposing forces] at [the National Training Center] and [Joint Readiness Training Center] are not where they should be. You\u2019ve got holes in the observer\/controller\/trainers, the guys who walk the lanes and help train these units.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army has been pulling some levers to increase the number of sergeants and staff sergeants who are available to fill those jobs, through re-enlistment bonuses and a friendlier promotion board.<\/p>\n\n\n\t